‘The Conners’ Actor John Goodman Reveals He No Longer Speaks To Roseanne Barr
In an appearance on the third hour of NBC’s TODAY show, actor John Goodman revealed that he didn’t know how his former Roseanne co-star, Roseanne Barr, was faring since her firing from the ABC reboot of her once-popular ’90s sitcom. Goodman seemed to admit as much in an interview with hosts Craig Melvin and Hoda Kotb that aired Tuesday morning.
The 67-year-old actor revealed that he only took his current role as Dr. Eli Gemstone on HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones after the Roseanne reboot was cancelled by ABC. When asked about the timing of his new role, he told NBC’s Craig Melvin that he received the script for the show, which premiered in August, just two days after the news that ABC had canceled the reboot.
Goodman, who portrays Dan Conner on both Roseanne and The Conners, called the timing “perfect.”
The show, however, would go on to get one more reboot in the form of a spinoff series called The Conners, which focuses on the family from the ’90s sitcom in the aftermath of the original shows titular character’s death.
But the TODAY show hosts wondered how the outspoken conservative was doing following her firing from the popular ABC sitcom. Melvin asked if Goodman still kept in touch with Barr, and how she was doing in the year since she was fired.
“No,” Goodman answered bluntly. “I don’t know.”
The Righteous Gemstones actor, however, dished on the filming of the latest season of The Conners, and told the TODAY anchors that the show was going “great.” Goodman also said that he had shot scenes over the weekend, and was going back to work later in the week.
While Goodman was tight-lipped about Barr, he did admit that the show had changed significantly without its leading lady, who Kotb asked if he misses when he walks on the show’s set.
“Yeah, it’s a different relationship with all the character now and all the people,” Goodman said on the broadcast that aired during the popular morning show’s 9 o’clock hour. “All I had to do was hang on and prod [Roseanne] every once in a while, and she always made me laugh. But yeah, it’s a different dynamic with everything.”
According to a previous report from The Inquisitr, Barr was fired by ABC following comments — which many deemed racist — the actress and comedienne made about Valerie Jarrett, an advisor to President Obama.
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Barr apologized for the remarks following the ensuing backlash, but has since doubled down on attacks against the network. In a return to stand-up comedy last year, the 66-year-old television star insisted that she wasn’t dead, despite the death of the her iconic character, per a report from The Inquisitr.
In Tuesday’s TODAY interview, which lasted about five minutes, Goodman also detailed bouts of “paralyzing” stage fright, but says he tries to put the negative energy to good use. He joked that he often seems to sound smarter than he really is when he isn’t reading a script or speaking from a teleprompter.
